Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Monday, August 9, 2021
Make that three days in a row that Jimmy Garoppolo has outplayed Trey Lance. You’ll read more about that later today. Jordan Elliott brought up an interesting point: Jimmy G feeding off the crowd’s energy at Levi’s Stadium and riding that momentum into Sunday’s practice.
3. Tight end George Kittle.
Beat safety Tavon Wilson twice during 1 on 1s — first with a dig route that spun around Wilson like a record, then with an out-and-up double move that drew a defensive holding penalty. Kittle made the catch anyway. He also made a 25-yard catch between two defenders during 11 on 11s.
4. Tight end Jordan Matthews.
Caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from Josh Rosen up the right sideline.
5. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
Intercepted a deep pass intended for Raheem Mostert during 1 on 1s. Greenlaw has excellent hand-eye coordination for a linebacker.
“I think he started off real well,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Sunday regarding Rosen. “I think he’s taken a couple of steps back the last few practices. You know, it was unfortunate on [interception during Sunday’s practice]. We were supposed to go to someone and we had a busted route, so then it kind of fell apart and he tried to overcompensate and he made a bad situation worse.”
Rosen has rarely had a good situation during his time in the NFL. A top-10 pick who lost his spot in Arizona after the Cardinals secured the ability to select Kyler Murray, Rosen didn’t pan out in Miami before accepting a practice-squad gig last year with Tampa. Then, he spotted an opportunity to learn from Shanahan and potentially get on the field. Once the 49ers made their big move for rookie quarterback Trey Lance, that possibility became more remote.
John Lynch credits Bill Walsh during Pro Football Hall of Fame speech
“He saw something in me when it hadn’t even materialized, yet,” Lynch said on 49ers Talk.
Walsh convinced Lynch to continue with football despite being a top baseball prospect. He was a second-round draft pick as a pitcher of the Florida Marlins in 1992.
He told Lynch, who had barely played half the snaps on defense, that he could be an All-Pro performer.
“It didn’t just stop there,” Lynch said. “On draft day, because there were some murmurs that I was trying to leverage the Florida Marlins and I didn’t really want to play football, Bill got on the phone and was calling all the teams.”
49ers Practice Report: Javon Kinlaw becomes ‘an issue’ for the offensive line
The tale of the day was Javon Kinlaw absolutely wreaking havoc, and the entire defensive line unit talking trash to the offense. They caused the offensive line to false start multiple times, especially towards the end, during two- and four-minute drills, which frustrated Kyle Shanahan.
One defensive linemen joked, “They don’t like us talking,” to which another defensive lineman responded, “I’m not stopping.”
Kinlaw sure as hell didn’t stop. He was omnipresent, breaking out spin moves, two-hand swipes, stutter-step rip moves, really getting into his bag. It was a two-hand swipe to beat Laken Tomlinson with ease and pressure/potentially sack the quarterback which was the most eye popping. But he also got one over on Alex Mack, when he bursted through the line, charging after and chatting with Jimmy Garoppolo, who made what would have been a life-saving dump pass in a game situation.
Shanahan was succinct in his assessment of Kinlaw, who’s clearly poised for a breakout season.
“He was having fun out there today. He showed up a lot,” Shanahan said. “He was an issue.”
JIMMY GAROPPOLO
1. Completed a 15-yard pass to Deebo Samuel, who was running an out route against Emmanuel Moseley. Garoppolo lofted the ball over K’Waun Williams’ outstretched hand. Beautiful touch throw.
7. Threw a gorgeous 60-yard touchdown pass to Samuel, who beat linebacker Dre Greenlaw with a fade route. The pass traveled roughly 35 yards in the air and landed perfectly over Samuel’s shoulder. This throw proves Garoppolo’s issues with the deep ball are mostly mental. He has more than enough arm strength.
14. Threw another incomplete pass to Samuel who was running another slant route. Moseley broke it up again. Moseley is good.
49ers DE Arden Key takes shot at his former team: ‘I was trying to get out’
“I wasn’t totally surprised, to be honest,” Key said. “I wanted to get out of there. I’d been wanting to get out of there. So, I wasn’t surprised. I was more happy than surprised. I wish it happened a little earlier, but hey, I got what I wanted. So, I’m good.”
“It was just bad all around for me,” Key said. “Bad system. It just wasn’t the right fit for me and I had to get out.”